The system of pre-qualifying was developed in response to the increasing number of teams competing in Formula 1. It was decided that 30 cars were the maximum safe limit to compete for 26 grid places. The cars which had to pre-qualify were decided at the beginning and the midpoint of each season. The 26 cars which had achieved the best results in the previous two-half seasons automatically entered official qualifying for the race. All the other cars had to pre-qualify for the four other slots available for official qualifying. Those that failed to pre-qualify just went home.

Senna took the lead at the start and never looked like being challenged while Prost chased until he dropped back when pitting for new tyres. He fought back up to finish second. Third place went to Piquet who profited from a non-stop strategy with his Pirelli tyres and Modena and Nakajima picked up fourth and fifth using the same strategy. The final point went to Aguri Suzuki.